La Trobe University has suspended Roz Ward, the co-founder of anti-bullying program Safe Schools Coalition, after she called the Australian flag “racist” in a Facebook post.

The move to stand down the controversial academic from her job at the university’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society has been condemned by the National Tertiary Education Union, which accused the university of taking part in an “anti-intellectual, anti-democratic attack”.

When I wrote that article, I remember addressing the often lofty submission criteria that literary journals aim for when doing call-outs. They ask for ‘diverse voices’ and people of different backgrounds, but that doesn’t really confront the real work, the deep institutional restructuring that creates conditions for equality. I felt suspicious of the way they went about this – it insinuated that publications aren’t already focused on those issues, and treats them as a secondary concern.

RELATED: If you’re Azn Australian, are you following and/or submitting to Peril Mag? Because you should be.